I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an illuminated article for a door having a handle and, more particularly, to an article which may be mounted to a door handle and which has a means for illuminating the handle of the door.
II. Description of the Prior Art
The architectural design of buildings and residences has evolved over the centuries to incorporate the advances in the state of the art of technology. The advances have included all manners of technology from materials to electricity. The integration of the use of electricity in the design of various facilities has brought about a great number of improvements in the quality of life. One area which has not been affected is the problem of locating a door within a darkened room. Low and no light conditions have typically been accommodated by the use of night lights and lights which are timed to come on at specific times of the night. The use of a night light has typically been restricted to the placement of a light at an electrical outlet which is typically somewhere on a wall. A light which comes on at a specific time resolves the problem of location of the door at that specific time but not at other times. These other times are in fact the more likely event to occur.
Industrial and commercial facilities have exit signs which are lighted. These lighted exit signs, however, are usually placed above the door and are usually located in hallways or in common areas of a building. They are not typically located within an individual room such as a hotel room or dormitory room or within a private home. A common problem which occurs is that an individual will wake up during the small hours of the morning and not be able to ascertain the location of the door and, more particularly, where the handle of the door is located. Whether this be in the individual's home or if the person is traveling and in a hotel, this problem is not resolved by current devices.
The problem, generally stated, is locating the handle of a door. The senses available to a person for locating a door are typically the visual senses and the auditory senses.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,230 discloses a lighted door handle which is comprised of a system which is built into the door handle and contains a complicated assembly for latching and unlatching a door and a complex power supply system. This invention, however, requires that the light and other mechanism of the invention be an integral part of the handle assembly. This invention is expensive and cumbersome and is only applicable to certain types of doors.